Bloomsbury Summer School
Fascinated by ancient civilisations?
We offer anyone with any level of knowledge, inspiring short courses on ancient Egypt and other areas of the ancient world.
2025 Course timetable
Monday 14 July to Friday 18 July
EGYPT: LAND OF THE PHARAOHS -- AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT (in person and online)
Course Director: Ms Lucia Gahlin (Independent)
To be held in person at UCL Institute of Archaeology (31 - 34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY UK) and livestreamed online.
Monday 14 July
10:45* – 11:00
Participants gather in BSS Common Room on 6th floor / Students login to Zoom
11:00 – 11:30
BSS Director’s Welcome Address
11:30 – 13:00
1. An Overview of Ancient Egyptian History: Sites and pharaohs in this course
Welcome Lunch in BSS Common Room (14:00 Short optional tour of UCL with the Director)
14:30 – 15:45
2. Early Dynastic Period: The first pharaohs of Egypt
16:15 – 17:30
3. Early Old Kingdom: The first pyramid builder
17:30
Non-BSS event: Get together with fellow students for a drink in the Woolf & Whistle Bar on the ground floor of the Tavistock Hotel**
Tuesday 15 July
10:00 – 11:15
4. Mid – Late Old Kingdom: Egypt’s heyday of pyramid building
11:45 – 13:00
5. First Intermediate Period: Local rulers and civil war
14:15 – 15:30
6. Middle Kingdom: Egypt reunified
16:00 – 17:15
7. Second Intermediate Period: Foreign rulers in Egypt’s north
17:15 – 18:30
BSS Social on Common Room balcony**
Wednesday 16 July
10:00 – 11:15
8. Early New Kingdom: Warrior pharaohs and empire building
11:45 – 13:00
9. Early New Kingdom: Solar religion, kingship, and architecture
14:15 – 15:30
10. Guided Tour: Pharaohs in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology / Zoom or video
16:00 – 17:15
11. Early New Kingdom: Egypt’s ‘heretic’ pharaoh
Non-BSS event: Get together with fellow students for dinner at Poppadom Indian Kitchen in the Tavistock Hotel**
Thursday 17 July
10:00 – 11:15
12. Group A: Object Handling: Archaeological finds in the Petrie Museum
Group B: Manuscript Handling: 19th Century facsimiles of the Book of the Dead
11:45 – 13:00
13. Group B: Object Handling: Archaeological finds in the Petrie Museum
Group A: Manuscript Handling: 19th Century facsimiles of the Book of the Dead
14:15 – 15:30
14. Early New Kingdom: ‘Wonderful Things’
16:00 – 17:15
15. Mid New Kingdom: ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings…’
Friday 18 July
10:00 – 11:15
16. Late New Kingdom: Combatting the chaos
11:45 – 13:00
17. Guided Tour: Pharaohs in the British Museum** / Zoom video: Pharaohs in the British Museum's Egyptian Scultpure Gallery
14:15 – 15:30
18. Third Intermediate Period, Late Period, Ptolemaic Period: Pharaohs from afar
16:00 – 17:15
19. Introduction to Reading Pharaohs’ Cartouches
17:15 – 19:00
End-of-Course Drinks Party on BSS Common Room balcony and online(you are welcome to invite guests)
*All times are London UK time; Zoom waiting room opens 15 minutes prior to the start; **In-person participants only.
NB: Timetables, once published, are unlikely to change, but remain provisional until the first day of the course.
